Kitchen Nightmares (US) · S9 E7
Verdict
New Orleans, LA
Yes. This one is still open.
The short answer
Black-owned and women-owned New Orleans restaurant (owner Melika Honore) confirmed open: 'We're very happy to report that The Verdict Lounge & Restaurant is still open.'
What happened on the show
Nearly fifty minutes passed before Ramsay got his food at The Verdict, an especially damning stretch for a restaurant already struggling internally. The New Orleans spot, owned by Melika Honore and billed as Black-owned and women-owned, served traditional Creole cooking with a modern twist and had the owner's mother running the kitchen. Located in New Orleans East, an area Ramsay noted had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, the restaurant carried the usual load of staff tensions, family squabbles, and mounting debt. The Season 9 episode worked to untangle the internal friction and speed up a kitchen that kept diners waiting the better part of an hour, at a family business trying to modernize without losing the traditional New Orleans flavors that defined it.
After the cameras left
The Verdict came through and kept serving. As of our latest verification the restaurant, sometimes styled The Verdict Lounge and Restaurant, was confirmed still open after Ramsay's intervention. A Black-owned and women-owned New Orleans business that walked into the episode weighed down by internal tension and a nearly hour-long ticket time held on afterward, one of the Season 9 restaurants that turned the visit into a lasting result rather than a brief flare of attention.
Location
New Orleans, LA
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Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.